How do I stop the fights?

I really need your help.. Im at my wits end.. I have 5 large dogs .. they all live in the house.. I have 3 female.. and 2 male.. Now my problem.. they fight.. the 2 males and then 2 of the female.. Im afraid that soon one will get killed.. As one female has been very close.. i have been bit 2 or 3 times trying to break the fights up.. one time i walked in and the 4 of them were fighting and my living room was a blood bath. Is there anyway to prevent the fighting or for me to become the head of the pack.. so they will listen to me.. and stop fighting each other for the position.. as I will have it. I have started separating them when i leave but that is causing problems with my boyfriend as he says to just let them fight and kill the weak and then kill the winner.. thats not me.. i love them all other wise i would have given some away.. sooner.. please help me.. i really need you..How do I stop the fights?
I can't tell you how to stop the fights because it's impossible to tell what they are fighting over (toys? bones? room position? other resources?). This type of pack behavior is best assessed in person by a trained behaviorist.





I would heartily recommend that you continue to separate them when you leave, however. Many dogs will respect you as head of the pack and not fight in your presence but when you walk out the door all bets are off. If you don't separate the pairs that bicker then you will likely come home to dead dogs one day.





Good Luck!How do I stop the fights?
Are you sure your boyfriend not using them as a dog fight it sound to me that your boyfriend letting happen that means he using them as dog fighting my advise is get them new homes if not when you come home you will see one of them dead he is doing it behind your back that why when come home seeing them fighting.I know how much you love your dogs but give them new homes without another animals.
I agree with Shelter Puppies Rule in that you need professional advice. You have a pack and it doesn't seem that you have taken the alpha role. Dogs need to follow an alpha in order to have structure in their lives. Since you are not the alpha, it seems they are fighting over the position. A professional can try to help.
A. you need a trainer, or you should maybe think of giving away some dogs to a friend . 5 dogs in the house that alot. As for you bf tell one of the dogs to bite his face off.
you really need a professional, please be ware of the advice you get here, i don't think anyone can help you in just one quick answer.





and...you really need to dump the bf.





if your bf is saying to kill the dogs as in euthanize aggressive dogs humanely, that's one thing. but if he's saying kill them because he has serious mental issues, well no wonder your dogs are fighting when he's around with that attitude for them, wanting to kill your dogs, why would you stay around a guy like that?





if your dogs are fighting over position, you have to realize it's not just You the alpha and the dogs. It's you the alpha, and the dogs have their own pack order too, that YOU have to respect and enforce. if one dog is lower than another, you can't give the lower dog precedence over that one or you create them to challenge each other.. i mean but right now, you just need a behaviorist asap, i think some of your ideas about alpha might be a little muddled..like you got the wrong impression from watching ';the dog whisperer';. well that is just my take on what you wrote, i apologize if i'm wrong.





so my advice:


1. dump the psychopath bf. i would not let any one within 10 feet of me if they encouraged dog fighting and killing dogs.


2. call your vet, and ask for a referral for a behaviorist
Bloody foolish owner !!
i think u should seperate them or give some away


what kind of dog are they





good luck
all your dogs need to be fixed and you need to train them





ive read really good reviews on brad pattisons synergy between man and dog they say it will tell you how to establish leader with your dogs
I'm sorry to hear about this. But try water. It used to help with my Dogs when they were fighting.
Are they spayed and neutered? If not then that's the first thing that needs to be done. Second, separate all the dogs. Don't let any of them be together. Every fight is only going to increase their problems. Third, get a dog trainer. Dog aggression is serious and you need to get a professional in there to figure out why they are doing this and what you need to do. It has nothing to do with you not being a pack leader. There are some conflicts between them and you need to figure out what it is. You may have to give a dog or two away. Some dogs don't do well with other dogs.
for their and your sake, you might have to give some away! no matter how much you ';love'; them.





i have 6 pits and a lab and have successfully prevented fights (my males are NOT altered) with good training, pack order, and discipline.





since i don't know your dogs, i'm not going to recommend what i have done in the past to train them out of it, just know this: a dog will do WHATEVER you ALLOW it to.


the pack leader says WHEN and WHO to fight.





you need a professional to evaluate your dogs (i can't over the computer!) so get one in ASAP.





if you have to rehome a dog or two, do it for their own good. its no fun getting beat up every day!
First off, they all need to be altered. All three females need to be spayed and both males need to be neutered if they havn't been already. The fact that they might not be altered could be what is making them constantly fight; for dominance and to be the leader of their little ';Pack.';





Or, it could be jealousy. What I suggest doing is take the two males and the two females, leash them and take them two at a time and let them sit together with you and your bf firmly holding the leashes. Let the dogs sniff each other and praise them the entire them they are behaving. If they start to growl/lunge/snap then take the dog doing it out of the room and then return him after he is calmed down. if they are both growling, then take them both out, pet them and then return them to the same room and repeat the process of just letting them stand next to each other. Also, feed them treats! For example, if you've got the two males together, (let's call them Bob and Joe, since you did not supply their names ^^). Give Bob treats whenever he is around Joe, that way he will accosiate the treats with Joe, and know that whenever Joe is around, that it is a good thing. Do the same thing with Joe whenever Bob is around. Also, this will work on the females. If these techniques don't work, then i advise you seek professional training from somebody or consider giving two away that way there won't be so many dogs under one roof.


Good luck!
They need to all be fixed for starters so if they are not then get on it.


You need to be an established pack leader-clearly you are not.


Find what they are fighting over? Is it food? Separate them while they eat? Is it toys? Buy more toys and let them play only when they are supervised.


How are they doing with exercise? You should start walking them. A tired dog is a good dog!


You likely have a few dominate dogs going head to head. They aren't in a balanced pack so you need to take extra measures and precautions to make sure all goes smoothly.


You should not be getting bitten when you break up fights. We took in a stray female dog who is head strong. We had a dominate one and a submissive one. Obviously with 2 dominate females there WERE problems. They would fight over food or over the fact that one got near ';the people.'; When the fought you better believe we'd grab them off each other. And no we don't get bitten. The problem has mostly resolved as a result of getting the stray female spayed and just showing her that she is not in charge.
I just saw the english dog trainer lady on tv last night about this. She said you have to use positive training and train the dogs to get along by click training and with treats. This would be a long term training to get the dogs to ignore each other and be calm in all situations together. When the aggressive dog looks around but stays calm when near the other dog you would click and give a treat. The dogs are at a high stress level right now which the dog trainer says can cause physical harm to the dogs internally also like cancer, heart problems, etc. The click, positive training is supposed to increase each dog's confidence and removes the stress. I don't know how you are going to do this with 5 dogs though. If you want to keep them all you will probably need constant dog training for all since one or two dogs has passed on bad behaviors to the calm dogs.
I noticed that you didn't note the breeds of the dogs, but any aggression in dogs is usually toward the same sex. I agree that you need to seek professional help, and keep them all away from each other if possible. DO NOT let them fight until the death. That's just cruel and I'm glad you're not like that. If a professional cannot help you, you may need to rehome a few of them, keeping only one of each sex, especially when it comes to pit bulls. I know you love them, but you need to do what's best for them all and yourselves. Dog fights are horrible to see and have to break up. Here's something that may help if you have to break up another fight:





An excerpt from “How to Break Up A Dog Fight Without Getting Hurt.”


The complete 62 page eBook can be found at: http://leerburg.com/pdf/howtobreakupdogf…


Breaking up a dog fight can go bad in a heartbeat. This is serious business. So know you limitations and don't get into the middle of something you can't physically deal with.





Unless you have a lot of experience do not try and break up a dog fight by yourself. Never step in the middle of two loving pets and try and grab them by the collar to stop a dog fight. If you try this, the chances of you being badly bitten are extremely high. People don't understand that 2 animals in the middle of a fight are in survival drive. If they see you at all, they don't look at you as their loving owner. When you charge in and grab them they either react out of a fight reflex and bite, or they see you as another aggressor. When they are in fight or flight mode they will bite you. You can take that to the bank.





The safest way to break up a dogfight requires 2 people. Each person grabs the back feet of one of the dogs. The dog back feet are then picked up like a wheelbarrow. With the legs up, both dogs are then pulled apart.





Once the dog fight is broken up and the dogs pulled apart it is critical that the people do not release the dogs or the dog fight will begin again. The two people need to start turning in a circle, or slowly swinging the dogs in a circle while they back away from the other dog. This stops the dog from curling and coming back and biting the person holding their legs.





By circling the dog has to sidestep with its front feet or it will fall on its chin. As long as you slowly continue to back and circle, the dog cannot do any damage to you. To insure that the fight will not begin all over again when you release the dogs, one of the dogs needs to be dragged into an enclosure (i.e. a kennel, the garage, another room) before the dog is released. If you do not do this, the dogs will often charge back and start fighting again or if you release the dog to quickly the dog will turn and attack the person who had his feet.





Dog fights are a very dangerous thing to try and break up alone. You should never rush in and try and grab the dogs to pull them apart. They are in high ';fight drive'; and are not thinking clearly when fighting. If someone grabs them they will bite without even thinking about who or what they are biting. This is how your loving pet can dog bite the living crap out of you in about a second and a half.





In reality it probably doesn't even know it's biting you. I compare it to a bar fight. If a person comes up behind 2 guys fighting and just reaches out and grabs the shoulder of one of the combatants most of the time the fighter is going to turn and throw a punch without even looking at who or what he is hitting. This is because his adrenaline in pumping and he is in ';fight drive';.





The worst case scenario is that you are alone when a serious fight breaks out. There are a couple things that you must keep in mind:


• Keep your cool you have a job to do.


• Do not waste time screaming at the dogs. It hardly ever works.


• Your goal is still the same; you must break up the fight without getting hurt.


• Go get a leash (allow the fight to continue while you do this).


• Dogs are almost always locked onto one another. Walk up and loop the leash around the back loin of the dog by either threading the leash through the handle or use the clip. I prefer the thread method.


• Now slowly back away and drag the dog to a fence or to an object that you can tie the leash to. By doing this, you effectively create an anchor for one of the dogs.


• Then walk around and grab the back legs of the second dog and drag it away from the dog that is tied up. Remember to turn and circle as they release.


• Drag the dog into a dog pen or another room before you release the back legs.


• Go back and take the dog off the fence and put him or her into a dog kennel.





A point I would like to make is that if you see two dogs out there squaring off through body posturing (i.e. one dog with stiff legs and tail straight up in the air putting his head over the shoulders of the other to show dominance) do not run out there screaming ';NO NO NO!!!!'; Most of the time this is going to trigger the fight. A
You need to get a trainer in ASAP and see what they can do, but i'm not sure there is anything they can do. You need to consider giving up some of your dogs. When you have 5 dogs, they need to get along or else it is dangerous. By keeping a pack of 5 dogs that do not get along, you are severely endangering them and at a point it becomes very selfish. The dogs that are being attacked are suffering and you need to correct the situation. Try keeping one male and two females that get along, that is usually a good dynamic.





Call a local rescue of find homes for them yourself, otherwise it really is cruel to the animals.